The solar system with state-of-the-art In 2021 humanity is all set to achieve new milestones in space the hard work of several years will finally bear fruit as we enter a new decade besides the launch of the most advanced space telescope 2021 will see humans explore the solar system with state-of-the-art technology this year we'll take a step closer to becoming an interplanetary species so here are the 10 most exciting space missions that you should not miss in 2021.


The first on the list is the much awaited launch of the james webb space telescope:


The telescope's idea was conceived about 25 years ago in 1996. over the years the telescope has faced several delays and cost overruns planned initially at 1.6 billion dollars this next generation telescope is now a 10 billion dollar project if everything goes well web will be launched on halloween day the james webb space telescope is the successor of the hubble space telescope

in its 30 years of service hubble revealed many secrets of the cosmos it showed us that nature is much more of an artist than a scientist or an engineer with web astronomers will see distant galaxies and regions of the universe that even hubble could not that's because hubble primarily operated in theboptical and uv region of thebelectromagnetic spectrum will work in infrared as compared tobhubble it's a beast while hubble is as big as a school bus web is half the size of a 737 aircraft its primary collecting mirror is five times larger than hubble's webb also plans to image exoplanets novas and stars directly


The second is the mars exploration:


The second is the mars exploration in 2021 three spacecraft will arrive at mars the first is the mars 2020 spacecraft carrying the perseverance rover and the mars helicopter ingenuity launched on 30th of july last year nasa's perseverance will reach the red planet on 18th of february designed to search for microbial life on mars perseverance will land in a 45 kilometers wide basin called yzero crater the mission will collect and store soil samples that could be returned to earth in the future as a 2.5 billion dollars mission perseverance will also draw oxygen from the martian atmosphere to preview the kind of technology required for mars colonization however an essential highlight of this mission is the mars helicopter ingenuity for the first time a helicopter is going to have a flight on any planet beyond earth during its 30-day test campaign ingenuity is expected to fly up to five times the second country to arrive at mars would be china with its tian when one mission it comprises a lander a rover and an orbiter if successful china will become the second country in the world to land on the red planet



The third is the united arab emirates:



The third is the united arab emirates with its mission called hope hope carries an orbiter that will study the weather patterns on mars its success would make the uae the first arab country to reach mars the third is chandrayaan-3 after its previous lunar mission's partial success india will go back to the moon for the third time in 2019 india had launched chandrayaan-2 with a lander a rover and an orbiter due to a communication snag the lander crashed on the lunar surface the orbiter is working well and sending back data to the indian space agency if successful india will become the fourth country to make a soft landing on the moon only after the ussr the united states and china




The fourth and one of the most exciting missions on the list is dart:


which stands for double asteroid redirection test it is humankind's first planetary defense mission the 500 kilogram spacecraft will travel to the double asteroid system called didimos there it will collide head-on with its orbiting moonlet differmose after the collision the time taken by differmost to orbit its parent body will decrease by several minutes as it enters a new orbit as seen from the earth this double asteroid system is an eclipsing binary which means differmose passes in front of dydemos as it orbits the larger body now the earth-based telescopes can easily track the regular variation of its brightness and determine the new time duration taken to complete one orbit around the parent asteroid the mission will launch this year and the impact will take place in fall 2022 it's important to note that dart is a technology demonstration the chosen asteroid system does not pose any threat to the earth the dart mission is a demonstration of capability to respond to a potential asteroid impact threat should one ever be discovered 


The fifth space mission to look for in 2021 is nasa's lucy:


which will be the first mission to the trojan asteroids the trojan asteroids mainly refer to swarms of rocks that move along the orbit of jupiter they orbit the sun in two groups one leading ahead of jupiter in its path the other trailing behind it these asteroids hold the secrets of the early solar system lucy will launch in october 2021 it gets its name from the fossilized human ancestor whose skeleton provided a unique insight into humankind's evolution similarly scientists believe lucy will provide important clues on how the solar system formed lucy's team has developed a complex trajectory that will carry the spacecraft to both groups of trojan asteroids in its 12 years of mission lucy will explore six trojans

Number six is the artemis program that will land the first woman on the moon:


Nasa plans to go back to the moon in 2024 to achieve the feat nasa will launch artemis one in november 2021. artemis one will be an uncrewed test flight an orion spacecraft will orbit the moon for six days and land in the pacific ocean the success of artemis 1 is crucial as it will certify the orion spacecraft and the sls rocket for the future artemis missions about a couple of years later artemis 2 will be launched it will be a crude flight in which the spacecraft will travel around the moon and return back this will be the first crude spacecraft that will travel beyond the earth's orbit for the first time in 50 years the next is spacex's starship for those who don't know about the starship it's a spacecraft being developed by spacex it's a reusable vehicle that will be used by astronauts in their future missions to the moon and mars in 2020 the rocket launching company achieved several milestones including the launch of crew dragon that sent astronauts to the international space station spacex had more than 100 successful space flights the most recent prototype of starship was sn8 although it exploded while landing back on the ground the mission was marked successful as the team working on it got all the data required to proceed with the development spacex is ready with sn9 and sn10 it will be interesting to see the development of this reusable spacecraft in 2021

The eighth on the list is russia's luna 25:


it has been 45 years since the country's last lunar mission now the russian federal space agency is all set to go back to the moon scheduled to launch in october 2021 luna 25 will land on the moon south pole in the boguslavsky crater to date no spacecraft has been to this part of the moon it's a play side by many countries to set up a moon base the penultimate mission on the list is china's space station in 2021 china will launch the core module of its planned space station the core module has been named tiana which means joining the heavens a total of 11 liftoffs will be required to build the space station the country wants to finish it by 2022 it will be 20 as massive as the international space station currently china is not the part of the 15 countries that operate and use the iss.


Last but not the least the two mission extensions:


Nasa has extended the exploration for two planetary science missions juno and insight the juno spacecraft launched in 2011 is currently orbiting the largest planet of the solar system it reached jupiter five years later in 2016. since then juno has decoded several.mysteries of jupiter it has sent back some stunning detailed images of the gas giant juno has explored jupiter's magnetosphere its cloud tops magnetic field and the dynamics of its atmosphere initially planned to end in 2020 juno has got the ticket to orbit jupiter for another five and a half years now the spacecraft will have close flybys of its moons europa ganymede and io the second is the insight mission on mars the insight mission was equippednwith highly sensitive seismometers to study the marsquakes the robot found signs of robust tectonic activity under the martian surface nasa has extended the mission by a couple of years it will be exciting to see what the two spacecraft contribute more to our current understanding of the solar system Let us know which space mission are you eagerly waiting for also if you wish to learn astrophysics read our 30 article basics of astrophysics series